To repeat or not to repeat? Erp-based assessment of the level of consciousness - a case study

Determination of the wakefulness and consciousness state in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) is vital for clinical decision-making. Typically, behavioral indicators and motor responses are employed. Recent advancements in neuroimaging have enabled motor independent assessment of DOC patients. We present a single-case analysis of a 24-year-old female, selected from a sample of n=77 patients, diagnosed with a DOC. We investigated the single-trial classification of stimuli within the peri-personal space (PPS) using event related potential (ERP) features. Data from two sessions, conducted ten days apart, were analysed. We observed significant differences in classification accuracies between sessions (high in session one, low in session two), which did not correspond to the patient’s recovery from UWS to MCS. ERP analyses confirmed the difference between sessions, supporting the observedchanges in classification accuracies. Our study underscores the importance of longitudinal assessments to accurately diagnose DOC patients. In future research we aim to expand our analyses to the full dataset.